Pun

pun

A device that uses homonyms—words that sound the same—to imply more than one meaning. While in our culture we employ them mostly as a crude form of humor, I believe that every kid should be encouraged to pun as often as possible. Puns’ regular use in wordplay creates verbally sophisticated adults, if occasionally annoying ones. Puns do have their serious uses as well, as Shakespeare proved—not to mention Madison Avenue.